Police in Erdogan's bug case held for video release

By Baris Kilic, Serdar Acil

ANKARA

A court in Ankara late Tuesday issued arrest warrants for the two police officers for allegedly releasing video footage in 2010 that belonged to opposition leaders and deputies, according to a judiciary source.

The footage belonged to main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) former leader Deniz Baykal and former Nationalist Movement Party (MHP) deputies.

Former police chief Sedat Zavar and police officer Ilker Usta are already serving time for bugging the office of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in 2014 while he was prime minister.

The pair fled Turkey fled Turkey to avoid questioning as part of an operation to dismantle the "parallel state" – a network of bureaucrats and senior officials embedded in the country's institutions, including the judiciary and police, that is attempting to undermine the government, according to Turkish officials.

They were extradited from Romania following a court ruling.

The policemen were detained late Tuesday following their query in court, according to the source who spoke on condition of anonymity due to restriction on talking to media.

In June 2015, the Ankara 7th High Penal Court sentenced Zavar and Usta each to six years in prison for "obtaining information about security of the state" and 18 months for "violation of confidentiality of communication".

Dozens of police officers have been detained and hundreds of others reassigned across Turkey in the operation against the "parallel state."

Former CHP leader Baykal resigned in 2010 after revelations of a video revealing his affair with a female CHP deputy.

A year later, MHP deputies Mehmet Ekici, Osman Cakir, Umit Safak, Deniz Bolukbasi, Recai Yildirim, Metin Cobanoglu, Bulent Didinmez and Cihan Pacaci resigned after the release of a salacious video on a website.